New Surgery For Acid Reflux Sufferers
One out of 10 Americans has heartburn on a regular basis. For many, the cause of the problem is gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), commonly known as acid reflux.
Now doctors at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colo., are doing a new procedure that corrects the problem in a minimally invasive way, reports CBS Station KCNC correspondent Dr. Dave Hnida.
"It's really exciting technology," said general surgeon Dr. Reginald Bell.
Esophyx is a new device that allows doctors to fix the problem that causes acid reflux and rebuild the valve between the stomach and the diaphragm by going through the esophagus.
"Previously, we've had to do it surgically with incisions in the abdomen," said Bell.
It was an invasive surgery that required extended recovery. Now doctors say they can reduce recovery times and completely fix the problem, so many patients can come off their acid reflux medications.
Patient Dick Gordon rarely suffers from heartburn, but his acid reflux aggravated his asthma and caused other issues. "Sometimes I have this full feeling. You feel like something is going on in there," he said.
"The reflux has caused erosion of my voice box, too, so I tend to have a bit of a foggy voice," he added.
Gordon is hoping the Esophyx procedure will ease his chronic cough and asthma flare-ups. And he was a perfect candidate for the surgery because the damage to his esophagus was not extensive. Dr. Bell was able to rebuild the valve without any problems.
This procedure is designed for people in the early stages of acid reflux, allowing more patients to get the problem fixed early on.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. Now doctors at Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colo., are doing a new procedure that corrects the problem in a minimally invasive way, reports CBS Station KCNC correspondent Dr. Dave Hnida.
"It's really exciting technology," said general surgeon Dr. Reginald Bell.
Esophyx is a new device that allows doctors to fix the problem that causes acid reflux and rebuild the valve between the stomach and the diaphragm by going through the esophagus.
"Previously, we've had to do it surgically with incisions in the abdomen," said Bell.
It was an invasive surgery that required extended recovery. Now doctors say they can reduce recovery times and completely fix the problem, so many patients can come off their acid reflux medications.
Patient Dick Gordon rarely suffers from heartburn, but his acid reflux aggravated his asthma and caused other issues. "Sometimes I have this full feeling. You feel like something is going on in there," he said.
"The reflux has caused erosion of my voice box, too, so I tend to have a bit of a foggy voice," he added.
Gordon is hoping the Esophyx procedure will ease his chronic cough and asthma flare-ups. And he was a perfect candidate for the surgery because the damage to his esophagus was not extensive. Dr. Bell was able to rebuild the valve without any problems.
This procedure is designed for people in the early stages of acid reflux, allowing more patients to get the problem fixed early on.
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I've been suffering for little over 2 years and I feel your pain. I too would like to know more and will be talking to my doctor about this very soon.
Reflux is about waking up as soon as your body relaxes, the stomach valve opening, stomach acid and or food coming up your throat. You breathe it in while asleep, wake up choking, coughing and coughing up burning fluid, gagging on it, vomiting the stomach acid sometimes, stumbling to the bathroom to rinse your mouth to get it out and chewing antacids to stop the burn in your throat. The next day you have asthma all day from your lung tissue or air pipe being burned. It''s about having to take a proton pump inhibitor religiously and worrying if it is leaching the calcium from your bones, sleeping with the head of your bed elevated, on two pillows, no spicy foods, no eating for 4 hours before bedtime, no foods that relax your stomach valve; like ice cream or milk products, never over-eating, wearing loose waisted pants, on and on...you catch the point?
This operation may be a hope for people who SUFFER from GERD. I would like to know more about it.
I agree, everyones body is a bit different from anyone elses, and I did point out that you should chack with your doc before using anything. I did not mean to present baking soda as a cure all. It does work for me however. I am definately not an "overeater" (barely 165lbs) and baking soda shouldn''t be used for 3-4 hours after eating, your body does need the acid to digest. I only meant to present it as an option to more expensive options that do the same thing, which, as I said, you need to ask your doc about. I will pose this question: what difference is it to your body if you use an H2 blocker to stop acid production as opposed to neutralizing it? If you stop acid production before it has a chance to do its part in digestion, you have defeated the very purpose you pointed out. BTW, my over enthusiasm (yes, I know I can be overzealous) about this is due to my total disgust with the medical profession, including drug companies, that seem mostly concerned with finding new (and sometimes needless) ways to make money. It is sad that so many truly good meds and procedures are tainted by the BS.
It''s amazing how BIG FOOD Companies have created a perpetual market for themselves by hiring scientists/eugenists to design ''edible synthetics'' to supplement and in some cases replace real food products.
If you Google half these so-called ''ingredients'' in these products you will find that most of the preservatives and additives are derived from petroleum waste by-products normally used to make plastic.
Our bodies were not created to digest plastic so therefore all of the ''acid reflux'' ,farting, indigestion, psoriasis, and other ailments are simply side-effects from a synthetic or plastic diet.
If we eat organic as much as possible and reject processed food we won''t have these problems and needs for surgery.
Read the label folks...
If it has more then natural ingredients and reads words that you cannot even pronounce then it''s probably plastic synthetics.
~~~
I have a hiatal hernia - it has been with me for years. I have a choice: take my daily Prilosec (after all these years, still under doctor''s management) or live on Vanilla Wafer cookies, which is about all I can eat otherwise.
I have two doctors who disagree about the Prilosec treatment (has to do with vitamin B12 absorption). The doctor who disagrees does not have to live in my body, so I go with the quality of life aspect.
Ultimately, we make our own (hopefully, informed) choices.
With all due respect, and I see you are aware of my personal feelings, I have been thru the system and have inquired more than one doc about this. I didn''t pretend to be a doc in the post, and even pointed out the sodioum factor, which I think you, as a professional, should have addressed for the others that may read this. Of course ANYTHING that attempts to reduce reflux will alter your ph, it IS acid, after all. And, I agree, anyone should get (more than one) docs opinion on the use of baking soda, or anything else for any reason, for that matter. But how would a persons total bodies ph be pemanately altered if one continues to get reflux?? I still get reflux, it''s that I chose baking soda over roliads, nexium, ..... etc. Are these, both script and otc (over the counter, for those who don''t know) any diff as far as ph altering??????????